Garcia ordered to fight mandatory Khan

Danny Garcia must defend his world welterweight title against mandatory challenger Amir Khan by June, the WBC has confirmed.

Garcia (32-0-KO18) won the vacant strap by outpointing Robert Guerrero in Los Angeles on January 23 and is now due to tackle Khan (31-3-KO19), who he stopped inside four rounds in July 2012.

In an interview reported on badlefthook.com, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said: “Garcia-Guerrero was a tremendous fight for the WBC championship. Now we have a champion and it’s going to be a great year to come.

“Amir Khan is the mandatory contender, he is next for Danny Garcia and they must fight by June.”

Khan has been in lengthy and as yet unsuccessful negotiations to fight domestic rival Kell Brook, who holds the IBF world title and faces his own mandatory challenger Kevin Bizier on March 26.

The former world light-welterweight champion, who has won all five fights since falling to Garcia, fought just once in 2015, recording a comfortable points victory over Chris Algieri in New York.